It is by now widely accepted that the structural characteristics of the countries to become the euro area did not adhere to the conditions of an optimum currency area (OCA) when the euro was introduced in 1999. However, the satisfaction of OCA criteria may not be required for a workable currency...

This paper challenges the institutional sclerosis view of the German crisis according to which rigid labour markets and generous welfare state institutions have driven Germany into its position as "Europe's sick man". In general, the view is not convincing, because the underlying hypotheses...

The aim of our contribution is to present an innovative instrument to teach macroeconomics at the undergraduate and master level. We develop a digital learning platform to present and explore some controversies at the very foundations of macroeconomic theory. For this purpose, we explicitly...

First paragraph: Although growth in the European Union (EU), and in particular in Germany, one of the Euro area's former »sick men«, has speeded up in 2006, the EU and particularly the Euro area continue to face major economic problems. These problems are caused by the restrictive »Maastricht...

First paragraph: The world economy is presently suffering from the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression in the early 1930s. As by now seems to be obvious, the present financial crisis, massive state intervention in the financial markets in order to prevent a melt-down, and...

Books reviewed: Hein, E. and Stockhammer, E. (2011): A Modern Guide to Keynesian Macroeconomics and Economic Policies, Cheltenham, UK Claudio Sardoni (2011): Unemployment, Recession and Effective Demand. The Contributions of Marx, Keynes and Kalecki Stephan Schulmeister (2010): Mitten in der...

The paper fundamentally challenges the institutional sclerosis explanation of the present German economic stagnation. Instead we present a macroeconomic explanation focusing on the combined effects of too restrictive monetary policies, too restrictive and sometimes pro-cyclical fiscal policies...

In the present paper we question the mainstream diagnosis of Germany's post-2000 stagnation as well as the prescribed remedies. We show that the 'institutional sclerosis' view of Germany's stagnation is unfounded and that therefore the political measures proposed and actually taken are...